Fine Clothes to the Jew
1st Edition Cover | |
Author | Langston Hughes |
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Language | English |
Genre | Poetry |
Published | 1927 |
Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
Publication place | United States |
Fine Clothes to the Jew is a 1927 poetry collection by Langston Hughes published by Alfred A. Knopf. Because it departed from sentimental depictions of African-American culture, the collection was widely criticized, especially in the Black press, when it was published.[1]
Publication and response
The title appears in the poem "Hard Luck" in the book's first section.[2] It refers to a phrase popular in Harlem at the time, referring to citizens who would pawn fine clothes to predominantly Jewish-owned pawn shops when they were short on money.[3]
The collection was Hughes' least successful in terms of both sales and critical reception.[4] However, his first work The Weary Blues and this collection made his reputation.[5] Biographer Arnold Rampersad called it Hughes' "most brilliant book of poems."[6]
References
- ^ Rummel, Jack; Wagner, Heather Lehr (2005) Langston Hughes: Poet, p. 52. Infobase Publishing, ISBN 978-0-7910-8250-8
- ^ Bercovitch, Sacvan (2003). The Cambridge History of American Literature: Poetry and criticism, 1900-1950, p. 323. Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-30109-1
- ^ Nazel, Joe (2008). Langston Hughes, p. 140, Holloway House Publishing, ISBN 978-0-87067-937-7
- ^ Rampersad, Arnold (1986). Langston Hughes's Fine Clothes to the Jew. Callaloo, No. 26, Winter, 1986
- ^ Stewart, Jeffrey C (July 3, 1983). Uptown: the bard of urban. Los Angeles Times
- ^ Rampersad, Arnold (2002). The Life of Langston Hughes: Volume I: 1902-1941, I, Too, Sing America. Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-514642-4
External links
- Full text of Fine Clothes to the Jew at HathiTrust Digital Library
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- "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" (1921)
- "Mother to Son" (1922)
- "I, Too" (1925)
- "The Weary Blues" (1926)
- "Pierrot" (1926)
- "Come to the Waldorf Astoria" (1931)
- "Let America be America Again" (1938)
- "Note on Commercial Theatre" (1940)
- "Harlem" (1951)
- "Mississippi–1955" (1955)
- Fine Clothes to the Jew (poems, 1927)
- The Ways of White Folks (short stories, 1934)
- Montage of a Dream Deferred (poems 1951)
- Mule Bone (1931)
- Mulatto (1935)
- Street Scene (1947)
- Tambourines to Glory (1956)
- Black Nativity (1961)
- Jerico-Jim Crow (1964)
- Not Without Laughter (1930)
- The Sweet Flypaper of Life (1955)
- Way Down South (1939)
- Carrie Langston Hughes (mother)
- Charles Henry Langston (grandfather)
- John Mercer Langston (great uncle)
- Langston Hughes Society
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